I will tell you what happened now before the school got sued, Marlene.

Besides playing baseball, us 'Outfielders' would escape our campus and head over to a nearby hideout we called 'The Free Life' we found. Our hideaway was a barren shelter that used to house food products. But since the storage room had been empty for a while, all that remained were numerous spider webs, other annoying insects lingering around, and four unwanted rectangular tables that the service men forgot about.

Kyle refused to come along with us, because he didn't want to risk being caught in the eyes of Mr. Williamson; however, we told him if he ever snitched on us, his dark hair would be dyed orange for a whole month. I knew that would embarrass him, but didn't say anything for I was afraid - scared that one of the boys would retaliate against me.

Plus, I am sure Neil had something else up his sleeves for his brother. Thus, Kyle kept his mouth shut after our demands.

We cleaned the place up, stole some chairs from school to place in the room and made it ours. Once we painted the walls light blue and arranged the seats on each table; we held meetings in the room and soon Xavier invited some ladies into our refuge.

I think it's only right to let you know that after I left Gretel, the guys hooked me up with three other girls named Lalani, Brooke, and Hyacinth. They were students who attended the nearby Trinity Clover School for Girls.

Please believe me that I never liked them the way I love you Marlene! My macho self just overtook me, and didn't really know if I was doing this for myself or if I was doing this just to become accepted by my 'entourage'. I swear that these women only loved me because of my father. But I'm not going to lie to you, Marlene, because I fell into their deep spells called 'the game of love'.

At that time I really didn't have a care in the world in what I did, just as long as my father didn't know about it. But that would change, sooner or later.

~~

One day, five girls followed Xavier back into our hideout. There was one for each of us, but I was quite skeptic about it at first. But because Epic - Xavier's code name was of a ladies' man, I had to follow his mannerism.

Three girls had olive bronze skin that I later learned were from Europe, and the other two were from Asia, with the wide beautiful brown eyes looking at me. Their names were Emanuel, Emily, Emmy (that name should sound familiar to you because coincidentally, she was the same girl we met in our college rope course for Team Alaska) Lalani, and Leah.

Of course Xavier had the first pick, since he was the one who brought these girls inside.

He put his shoulder over Emanuel's, and told her that she would be stuck with him.

At this time Xavier wasn't that chubby as the first meeting where we saw each other. I guess through exercise, he became thinner, with a vigorous figure.  Perhaps, that was why women loved him... the 'cool' side of Xavier Green.

Emanuel was a beautiful brunette from Russia who spoke a little English in her foreign tongue. Thus,I assume her exotic accent was what caught Xavier's eye.

Afterwards, he told us to pick out who we wanted, and as shy as I was, I preferred to be the last one.

They were all lovely ladies, but at the age of 12 & a half, I wasn't quite ready for a girlfriend.

The remaining four ladies stood in a straight line waiting to be picked, but I thought this was a stupid plan.

My hands were sweating and felt a tingling feeling in my body that I couldn't accept right away. You could even say that was my 'nervousness' kicking in.

Levi chose to be with Emily, another brunette girl who was rather flamboyant. She smiled at Xavier's cousin and gave him a wink. She took his hand and they went out of the room as soon as he grabbed her by the waist.

Neil took the opportunity to be the third one to choose. He whistled at the ladies and eyed the remaining three. He had on a gutsy smile and once he eyed all the women before him, he took the hands of the girl named Leah.

She was from Japan, had long stunning black hair, and guess he was impressed by her clever personality, since she didn't seem shy at all. The first time she looked up to him, she gently bowed down in greeting. Neil did the same gesture, and the two hit it off quickly.

That left me and Max, but didn't want to be the next in line to do the 'dirty work. So I told Max to go ahead of me.

It was either going to be Emmy from Spain, or Lalani who happened to be Leah's sister.

To make a long story short, Max went out with Emmy; so I was stuck with shy, but sweet Lalani.

But she wasn't like her sister at all. At first, she would just bow her head to me, and I would do the same repeatedly, until my neck started having cramps!

The guys would laugh as I told them my story.

I could have picked Emmy if I wanted too, but since I saw the glitter in Max's eyes when he saw her, I didn't want to upset him. But in truth, I really didn't care who was going to be the last girl left for me.

~~~

After a couple of tries, I went out with Lalani to see if her mood would change. I was getting tired of the silence between us, and this 'so called date' was more like if I was talking with a mime!

I kept talking to her, but she would just answer me with short ended questions with a yes or no.

Gee Whiz! I'm not that stupid, but I had a feeling the guys were playing a joke on me because they all had the talkative women, while I ended up with the quietest of all!

Thus, soon I ended it. I told the guys I didn't want to date Lalani anymore, and just wanted to play baseball.

They were disappointed with my decision, but went along with my plan. Soon a disheartened Lalani left us, but I was glad to get rid of her. She was actually getting on my nerves, since I was only mostly talking to myself. And I'm not going to let that happen!

I felt sorry for her but even though I am the man here, I need a woman to talk back to me!

~~

Hello fellow readers,

The ladies men are what I would call the 'Outfielders'. And why did I use the term entourage? Well, later, I will use it for an idea that spun in my head!

My brother used to watch the show "Entourage"  ... and just by coincidence ... one of the actors in the movie/TV show is named Adrian Grenier ... he could be the guy who teamed up with Emmy in the rope challenge of my first book ... who knows?

Those interested to find out why I will choose Emmy as this new character, should go back to Chapter 38 of STDML and see that it was indeed Adrian and Emmy who were assigned to be Team Alaska! But how did someone from Spain end up in New York and then in Alaska? I'll explain that later, so please read on.

This chapter is dedicated to Sunshine Rainbow7. Her username is indeed a rainbow I'd like to see in my state's sunny weather. It hardly has been raining here, and would like to see more water! Where's that leprechaun with the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow when you need him? #Smiles. I know it's a fable, but a girl can wish, can't she?

The song attached is "Summer of '69' by Bryan Adams. I'm sure everyone has had exciting memories that they just can't let go of. And the year doesn't have to be 1969 or 1996. As you might know I like music videos that tell a story, it's much more enticing that way.

So, I hope you will continue reading Owen's memoir, Gretel, Lalani ... who will be next before the Brennan sisters become his prey? I gave a clue above, but just half of the story. Laughs! An author never gives away her ideas so quickly.

Till next time ... enjoy!